Page 108 of Somnium

She went quiet again, and Elias was beginning to wonder if the call had dropped when her voice drifted back across the line.

“I can pull something together, but it’ll take time. You need to keep your guard up until you hear from me. We’ll figure this out.”

His stomach dropped.

Time.

They didn’t have time. Oneirios was in his head and Cadi was the target. He needed a fix now.

“What the hell does that even mean?” he snapped.

“It means we’re in uncharted territory, Elias” Sera bit back, “This isn’t something he is supposed to be able to do, so I don’t exactly have something ready-made for this. I’ll let you know when I do.”

His fingers flexed against the cold stone. She was the goddess of witchcraft; there was no way she didn’t have something.

“Your entire place is warded. Can’t you just do that here?” he demanded.

“Wards don’t work like that,” Sera explained, “especially not with your binding. My wards would mask your physical location, but they won’t shield your dreams from his sights. The two of you will need something that can protect your sleeping states and since those aren’t something I can easily access, that makes things tricky.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing to control the simmering heat that had begun to rise beneath his skin. Getting hostile with Sera wouldn’t help anything. She was their best shot at getting this mess sorted. Slowly, he dipped his head in a quiet nod to no one. “Okay …”

“I need you to trust me. I’ll keep you posted. And E …” Her voice softened. “Until I call … maybe keep your distance. She knows it wasn’t you, but this isn’t something she can just get over.”

Tears stung the corners of his eyes, spilling over before he could stop them. He scrubbed the heel of his hand against his cheek. “Yeah … keep her safe.”

“Always.”

Three tones sounded in his ear, and the line went dead.

Elias folded into the counter as a raw, broken sound clawed free from his chest. One fist pounded against the cold granite while the other released his phone to clatter against stone …

As the last, fragile piece of him crashed away with it.

33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

ELIAS

Crisp air bit against Elias’s cheek as he shuffled down the tree-lined sidewalk, his feet growing heavier with each step. Strangers slipped past him, shooting him wary glances, and he tugged at the bill of his tattered ballcap in the hope that it would at least partially hide the dark circles under his eyes.

If there was a hell, he was most definitely in it.

It had been five days since Cadi fled his apartment—fled him—and the deep throbbing in his bones, the tremors that wracked his limbs, were constant reminders of what Oneirios had taken. Sleep was barely possible, not without Cadi next to him. His chest ached from the weight of missing her: the warmth of her body, the soft sound of her breath, even her weird little snores.

Desperate for relief, he had taken to spending his nights on the couch, though it hardly helped. Any sleep that did find him was tainted by Oneirios’s shadow and fear clawed at him until he woke drenched in cold sweat. That, coupled with the effort it took to make sure his mental door stayed locked tight while simultaneously resisting the god’s renewed interest in trying to influence him through his binding …

Well, the word “tired” just didn’t cut it.

The walk signal in front of him shifted, and Elias slowed to a stop before resting his pounding head against the metal streetlight. His knees shook under the weight of his exhaustion. With stiff fingers, he fumbled for his phone, and his pulse spiked when his grip failed, nearly sending it flying into traffic.

Clutching the device tight to his chest, he took a slow breath to settle his nerves before he tried to reread the message from Sera. In the three hours since she had called to tell him where to meet, he had double-checked her follow-up text with the name of the small coffee shop at least twenty times, his groggy mind refusing to hold on to even the simplest piece of information. He only remembered two things from that call: Sera had answers. Cadi would be there.

A knot formed in the pit of his stomach. He needed to see her like he needed to breathe, but no one could guarantee she would feel the same. After what he had done, he wouldn’t blame her.

Something hard collided with his shoulder, nearly knocking him from his feet completely. His head snapped up, though his eyes struggled to comprehend the shifting bodies that surged past.

“You good?” a voice asked from behind him.